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24 replies (most recent on top)
And 2U chooses to Market them.
You can't just shift the blame to Universities. You have to take accountability. If you willingly market a product you know is going to cause harm, I think you should adjust your moral compass.
The only reason 2U spends so much money on "converse" "Michelle Obama" etc is to brainwash and indoctrinate. Step outside of your comfort zone and zoom out. 2U Sells and Markets degrees that harm hundreds of thousands of Americans - If you are on the team doing that, collect every check until they go bankrupt. Realize what you're doing is wrong, and get another job ASAP creating good on earth.
People who work at Tobacco companies are smart enough to realize they market and sell a product that ki-ls people. Doesn't matter how much money Tobacco Companies spend on Pizza Parties - Everyone knows. Open your eyes.
Universities set the price of the degrees...
https://www.beckersbehavioralhealth.com/behavioral-health-mental-health/10-states-with-the-fewest-mental-health-providers-per-capita.html
You really have no idea what you're talking about in terms of the shortage. People are choosing not to pursue the career because of Cost of Degree vs. Compensation. You can argue for quality therapists all you want, but when you really understand the problem, you realize that its the Masters Degree requirement thats the problem, and not enough affordable education.
If 2U can launch an MPH and MBA from BU for $24k they can do this for Therapist Masters Degrees (Theres a range, MSW, MS in Psych, MS in Clinical Psych, etc.). Instead they are holding onto legacy contracts with schools like USC and Pepperdine, and it's honestly just trash business, and trash outcomes. Putting someone who's going to make $50k a year into $150k in debt should simply just not be allowed.
Eventually this will all come out, people will understand the role 2U played in contributing to this, get a new job now while you can, before people will look at 2U on resume - and say ouch - lacks morals. Don't buy into the Kool-Aid, the Kool-Aid king has already moved on to target minority athletes.
To be a good therapist does not require $150k in Master's Degree Tuition. Sorry.
@Pepperdine, we need more GOOD therapists. There are lots of bad ones out there. Imagine going to a therapist from Liberty University or Capella. You know what school produces the largest numbers? Walden.
Online Master in Marriage and Family Therapy is over $100k. Starting salary for a Therapist near Pepperdine is $46k (let's take no taxes out), thats $3800 per month gross. Average rent in that part of the United States is $2500+. When you add in electric, internet, groceries basic needs your living paycheck to paycheck. The Student loan payment is simply unaffordable, and the cost of tuition does not justify the student outcome. This is a bigger issue than just 2U, it's an issue with the american education system - We need more therapists - look around, there is a massive mental health problem. Being the for profit company in the middle, with a huge percentage of your revenue coming from Healthcare fields with low salaries is just not going to look good.
Sure Universities will be blamed, but they will just be regulated like whats happening in Wisconsin and California. 2U will take the fall, as the for profit enterprise that took 65% of tuition, and spent it frivolously. When Harvard & MIT ran EDX, no issues. Put it into the hands of Wall Street - company is on death bed. Super simple, leave education to educators, and don't exacerbate the education problem in the United States by letting for profit businesses get involved.
Sounds like you're mad. Having 2U on your resume will ultimately be the same as having Phillip Morris on your resume. People will associate you with an entity that caused harm. You can buy into all the "Kool-Aid" that you want, thousands of students are plagued with tons of student loans so you could go to New Orleans and have speeches by Michelle Obama.
Sir, this is a Wendy's.
Make it make sense? Okay. Look at the stock price. I wonder what numbers Wall Street is looking at? Maybe students are looking at the same numbers. Tuition revenue share is a great number to look at, and then look at how 2U spent federally-backed student loan dollars. Hopefully they didn’t spend the money on thousands of pairs of branded Chuck Taylors!
Looking at the numbers is a great idea. Let’s hope the federal government looks closely at the numbers, too.
@JK Noodleman so it sounds like the issue is with the student loans and job market, not the product. Education degrees have never guaranteed employment. They help provide additional qualifications to jobs you apply for. Gainful employment numbers have nothing to do with the company. It has everything to do with the job market.
You're mad because the company that helped facilitate getting you into the college or program YOU applied for, supported you through the process to graduate (hopefully), did not subsequently result in your gainful employment. Make it make sense.
It's an unmoderated, anonymous, forum on the Internet. There's no rules about who is "allowed" to post.
@justheresoIdontgetfined, the gainful employment numbers. Ask around. Students have not been able to get decent work, not enough to pay off their student loans.
Again... vague. "Real Numbers" Graduate numbers? Non-Graduate Numbers? Enrollment numbers?
Or are you fixated on the tuition share numbers? "Real Numbers" are fictitious unless they define something (with evidence). You still have yet in the last hour or so to provide me details on the "product" that was bad. But I have that I can't be that d_umb, "Real numbers", "Conned", and stock share hawking by "reps".
Can you provide coherent a legitimate misgivings that you've personally experienced?
@justheresoIdontgetfined, have you looked at the real numbers? The students were conned.
I would prefer those "reps" to what is in the best interest of the student. If they are previous students why would they need to go to Noodle Partners?
If Noodle Partners is a better fix, I ABSOLUTELY would want 2U to encourage that. I think what is missed is that there is no obscurity when it comes to whose decision it is to apply or accept from a student perspective. Students apply. 2U facilitates the discussion. School decides if accepted or denied.
I think I now have a better understanding. You don't have a legitimate gripe. You seem like you were either unsuccessful in your program or unsuccessful securing employment. In either case I wish you well in your endeavors. My hope is that you take this energy and spend it more productively.
@justheresoIdontgetfined, you can't be that d-mb, can you?
Would you prefer these “reps” just send the students to Noodle instead?
That's an unfortunate response. I was (and am) genuinely curious as to what you felt was a bad product and you mentioned "Reps" which seems intentionally vague. You have the opportunity to provide actual insight into your experience and you are choosing to be as cloak and dagger as you claim 2U of being.
@utt+1sZtdUH5 , that is literally not a thing that can happen. Which clearly shows you don't work here.
Inquiring minds want to know which product is terrible? The education? The platform? The support? A broad brush on "Terrible product" is very obscure. The curriculum and cost is run by the schools. The platform is a widely used platform and not proprietary. The support (at least from the degree side) is great (in my humble opinion). So are you more upset about the bootcamps or short courses?
The business model of 2U was doomed from the start. However, the concept is one I still (probably naively) believe in. I think a better conversation can be had around higher education in general and why the US feels that education is not a "right" but a privilege. But I digress, can you please share your experience with the bad product?
2U enrollment reps can start selling 2U shares to former students, pitching the projected 3000 percent increase in share value.
God forbid 2u employees see firsthand how they are providing a terrible product that absolutely rips people off.
This also applied to journalists. Again, you have a right to investigate and report but this is for employees.